The Five People You Meet in Heaven
by Desis
Summary: Serah expected Valhalla when she died, not this. She never expected that her own actions would have affected so many people. And she never expected that they would be waiting for her.


I wanted to write something Serah-centric. If you haven't read the original book, you are missing out.

5 points if you catch the quotes

* * *

White. Utter blankness. Nothing as far as the eye can see. If she was truly seeing anything at all.

_Where am I? Am I dead? _

She remembers killing Caius, traveling back to Acadamia 500AF. She even remembers seeing Bhunivelze rise into the sky. But after that? What happened? Where was Hope, where was Noel? Did they...Did they fix the timeline?

A breathy gasp as the sounds fill the air, clattering and banging, ringing and hissing, whirling and clacking, all around her. The surroundings melt away to reveal iron pipes and metal railings, the ever-noisy interior of a airship. But she's never been in the inside of an airship before, what does it have to do with her? Is she on Cocoon or Pulse? Which airship is this?

"You are on board the _Lindblum, _base of the Guardian Corps fleet and the ship owned by the commander of the Cavalry."

Serah whipped around to face the voice, but the mere movement of turning her head sent waves of pain through her whole body. Opening her mouth to speak, she was more than surprised to find her lips could not form the words she wanted.

The man clothed in white, silver, and blue laughed, a light, uncaring sound.

"Are you shocked? Your physical state, it has degraded compared to your mental state. You are a prisoner inside your own body."

"W-Who are y...you?"

"I am the pawn of the Cocoon Fal'cie. I was the last Cocoon l'cie. And you were responsible for my death."

"How?"

"The six and the one."

"When-when I was a l- l'cie?"

"Precisely." The man strode to the railing, heavy boots causing an echoing sound throughout the ship. He brushed his hand over the railing, eyes downcast. "Your sister, she was here once. Stood at this very place."

"When!"

"A lifetime ago. She was a brave soldier, your sister. We needed more people like her."

"We?" Serah struggled to stand up, but her legs gave out beneath her. The man caught her in one arm, gently lowering her to the ground.

"Do you know who I am?"

"N-no."

"Why, I'm surprised. Or I would be, if I didn't already know." The man chuckled, peeling the glove off of his left hand. "With you being a teacher and all, I thought my name would've turned up eventually."

"Who are y-you?"

"Brigadier General Cid Raines, commander of the Cavalry, member of the Guardian Corps...and the last Primarch." He removed the glove from his right hand, revealing a pale, glowing l'cie mark, in its earliest state.

"You!"

"Yes, me. Who were you expecting?"

"But, you're dead!"

"That is where you are wrong." Cid pulled back the hair on the right side of his head, revealing a bloody gunshot wound. Serah winced, and Cid combed his hair over the wound once again. "I may have been killed, but I am only as dead as you are."

"Does that mean..."

"Does it?" The surroundings flashed, and Serah flinched as the airship interior was washed over, the office of the Primarch replacing it. From here, Serah could see Cocoon's capital engulfed in flame, the screams of the dying reaching all the way to her ears.

"What's happening?"

"Your friends will end hundreds of lives. They will tear their way through the PSICOM forces, killing innocent soldiers who had families, lives of their own, perhaps their own younger sisters to watch out for. They will cause all my troops to become Cie'th, mindless creatures that they will slaughter. They slay the gods and tear down the world."

"But they didn't destroy Cocoon, they saved it! The Fal'cie were the evil ones here, not Light and the others!" Serah hobbled to one, knee, using the railing to pull herself up.

"Ah, but now you see, don't you? There are two sides to every story. You may believe what you are doing is right, but there are negative consequences for every action you take. For your friends today, their hands are stained with blood they even forget is there, and dozens of families will close their shutters and curse the Pulse l'cie that cost them everything."

"They saved millions of lives by killing the Fal'cie! They aren't bad people, they killed to save-"

"What of the Cocoon Fal'cie? They were children, granted everything they want and told nothing of it! From the start, the only thing they knew was that they were built to serve, they had no free will of their own, that their own gods created them and threw them away, like toys. Nothing more than playthings!"

"Are you trying to justify what they did? I thought, you, out of all people, should-"

"I can't hate them for that. I'd already given up." Cid's voice lowered into a whisper, and Serah strained to listen. "I wanted to fight. I wanted to help them. I wanted to overthrow the Fal'cie, raise humanity out of its stupor, teach them how to fight for themselves. But, I couldn't. I tried. I tried to disobey. I thought, if the six were dead, then the Fal'cie would have to wait."

"You tried to kill them?" Serah collapsed back onto the ground, unable to support herself anymore.

"Yes. I tried and I failed. If they were dead, the Fal'cie would have to instruments to control. Another few hundred years could pass. But they defeated me. Orphan, he knew I could never beat them, so he let me try."

"What happened after that?"

"I was made Primarch."

"Why?"

"To enrage the Cavalry. I had been the leader of the secret rebellion, organizing a task force to overthrow the Fal'cie, naively believing that they were unaware of my secret. The Cavalry thought I had gone corrupt with the offer of power. They knew nothing of my fate. They never thought I could be a l'cie. They came to kill me. I let him."

"Rygdea. He was one of the major founders of Acadamia, along with Hope's dad, but I never thought..."

" Yes. Bullet through the head. I was tired, tired of trying, tired of failing, tired of seeing people I cared about die right before my eyes. I gave up. I was playing the part of eager Primarch, charismatic young leader. They knew me. They thought they did. They never figured out."

"Do you regret it?"

"'Remember me, keep me in your memory, and I'll have no regrets.' Bittersweet parting words. Mine were less sweet and more bitter."

"What were they?"

"End it."

"Oh."

"I accomplished everything that was destined for me. I tried to change the future, and failed. It cost me my life."

"What are you trying to say? That it's useless to try?"

"No. I'm trying to say that's it's easier giving up when there's nothing to lose. Will you give up now, Serah? You could be happy. The responsibility of the world is off your shoulders. There's nothing you can do, that you'll ever be able to do, to change the fate of Pulse." Cid kneeled in front of Serah, a bitter smile on his face as he stared directly at her.

"Don't you want to meet the friends you lost? The family you lost? Your parents are waiting for you. If you gave up now, you'll have everything you ever wanted, and what you don't have now will join you in time. Will you give up, Serah?"

"This.. Is this another dream? Did Caius stab me again?"

"This is completely real. You could stop now, Serah. Everyone's waiting for you."

"You know everything about my life, don't you, Cid?"

"I know what you choose to show me, nothing more, nothing less."

"Then you should know better than to try to convince me." Serah pulled herself up, resting on one knee. "You should know that trying to get me to leave the people I care about behind will not work. Even if I'm destined to lose, I'll still fight!" She leaned against the wall as she rose, and Cid watched bemusedly.

"I swore I wouldn't run away anymore! I'm not going to make Lightning's, Vanille's, or Fang's sacrifice be in vain!" Serah stood and stared Cid in the eye.

"I'd rather fight and lose than give up without even trying!" And with that, she fell back down, utterly spent.

"Now I see the family resemblance. Meanie Miss Farron, I see where your authority comes from." Cid extended a hand to Serah.

"Were you...Lying about...Giving up?" She grasped his hand as he pulled her up.

"No. I truly did give up. And I wanted to make sure you don't made the same mistake as me."

"Oh. Then...Thank you, Cid."

Cid genuinely smiled and bowed his head, the gunshot wound on the side of his face gone.

"Goodbye, Serah. It was nice meeting you."

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I'll tell-"

"Tell who!" Serah called out, but it was too late. His hand disappeared from hers, and the walls were blank once more. Cid Raines was gone.


End file.
